TORONTO (Ticker) -- Tracy McGrady made it a successful
homecoming, scoring 24 points against his former team and
shaking off the jeers as the Orlando Magic posted a 104-101
victory over the Toronto Raptors.

McGrady, a Florida native who spent his first three seasons with
the Raptors, made his first appearance in Toronto since signing
with the Magic as a free agent. The booing at the Air Canada
Centre started during the pregame shootaround and continued
throughout the game.

"It was a challenge coming in here," McGrady said. "I wasn't
surprised by the reaction, that was expected. I fed off of it.
You enjoy that, you just have to bring your game. They still
love me. If they didn't love me, they wouldn't be booing me. I
just hoped they enjoyed the game."

"I don't think it was personal why T-Mac left Toronto," Orlando
coach Doc Rivers added. "It was more professional. He wanted
to be the guy, a feature player, and he wanted to go home.
Tonight, he handled himself about as well as you can handle
yourself."

In McGrady's first contest against Toronto, the Magic posted a
116-111 double-overtime home victory on January 23. The teams
play again on Friday in Florida.

"For me, (going to Orlando) was definitely the right move,"
McGrady said. "They (fans in Toronto) wanted something special
with me and Vince (Carter). I just felt like moving on. Orlando
was the place for me, the best decision for me and my family."

Orlando improved to 2-1 on a four-game road trip that concludes
on Tuesday in New York and tied Toronto for sixth place in the
tightly bunched Eastern Conference. The Magic and Raptors are
only one game behind Charlotte.

Carter, McGrady's distant cousin, scored 28 points for the
Raptors, who nearly erased an 11-point deficit in the final 2:10
but had a four-game winning streak snapped.

"We'll give you our money's worth at the end of a game, there's
no doubt about that," Rivers said. "But I was really proud of
our guys. We knew that the atmosphere would be wild and I
thought the guys really rallied around Tracy."

Toronto had a chance to tie after Darrell Armstrong, who scored
22 points for Orlando, missed a pair of free throws with 4.6
seconds left.

Raptors rookie Morris Peterson tried to get the ball to Carter
for a 3-pointer in the left corner, but Orlando's Bo Outlaw
knocked away the ball as time expired. The Raptors thought
Outlaw bumped Carter and protested that a foul should have been
called.

Carter did not want to discuss the last play.

"It is over and it's on to the next one," he said. "You can't
change it. We only scored 15 points in the second quarter. That
was the difference. We just need to win games and not worry
about who we're tied with in the standings."

But Toronto coach Lenny Wilkens had no problem voicing his
opinion.

"(Armstrong) fouled Vince as he was going up for the shot,"
Wilkens said. "What are they looking at? The referee was right
there. How could he not see it?"

Pat Garrity added 20 points for the Magic, who built a 60-46
halftime lead by shooting 57 percent (24-of-42) from the field
in the first half. Orlando erased a 31-30 deficit by outscoring
Toronto, 30-15, in the second period.

"They were really rocking today in this building," Garrity said.
"The fans were just awesome today. This was a tough place to
win, so I'm just happy we won this game. This game mattered."

Toronto closed to 84-80 on Carter's jumper with 9:20 remaining,
but the Magic appeared to put away the Raptors, scoring six
straight points to go up 90-80 on Garrity's free throw with 8:20
left.

But it got too close for comfort for the Magic in the final two
minutes. Jerome Williams' jumper and Carter's 3-pointer pulled
Toronto within before Keon Clark's jumper made it 101-97 with 50
seconds to play.

"It's hard when you fight back and you can almost taste it,"
Carter said. "It's disappointing. We tried to take what they
gave us, but unfortunately, we started missing shots and they
started getting easy baskets."

After Armstrong made 1-of-2 from the line, Chris Childs
converted a pair to bring Toronto within 102-99 with 24 seconds
remaining. Garrity converted two more free throws with 9.4
seconds to go before Carter's layup three seconds later again
pulled the Raptors within three.

Orlando held off Toronto by making 8-of-12 3-pointers, including
4-of-5 by Armstrong. The Raptors, who led by as many as six in
the first quarter, shot 52 percent (40-of-77), but Orlando
finished at 53 percent (40-of-75).